Important Poll: Tell GYO What You Think

[northepaul]

I always use peat free now, but didnt know about the damage it did to the environment previously.

[Emma Ward]

Thank you all for taking the time to enter this poll - you're all sharing really valid points. If you've not yet voted, do let us know your position...we would love to hear from you.

Thanks
Emma

[smallblueplanet]

I try to use the 'Moorland Gold' that SBP talks about but you can't often get it round this neck of the woods...

You can buy it from Tamar Organics and

The Organic Gardening Catalogue

Organic Gardening catalogue. Not cheap cos of delivery costs, but...

[chris]

Looks like I'm with the majority. When I started growing last season I just went to B&Q looking for a bargain. I bought two big bags of compost - after filling the trough I made I noticed it was peat based, and only after really joining this community and taking a bit more of an interest in the environment did I realise that peat bogs / environments were being used up! Since then, I've always made the point of buying peat free compost - regardless of pricing differences.

[Alison]

It's interesting that most of the comments on this thread are concerned with people who try to act responsibly and avoid using peat - a sentiment I fully agree with. However if you look at the vote, at the moment there is still a significant number of people who have voted for using peat, would be interesting to hear their views - not trying to have a go here but would be nice to have the comments balanced with the vote

[paula.berriman]

Until this year i always used DIY stores' multipurpose composts because of cost and availability but im pleased to say that im using peat free for the first time this year and im very keen to see the results. Even better that the DIY store i use is offering the peat free at the same price as the multipurpose and also on the 3 for £10 deal.

[smallblueplanet]

...Even better that the DIY store i use is offering the peat free at the same price as the multipurpose and also on the 3 for £10 deal.

Which store please?

[Rixy]

[Head above parapet] I use peat based compost [/Head below parapet].

Now before anyone jumps on their high horse let me clue you in a little more -

I use energy saving lightbulbs, I drive less miles per week than I used to, I swopped my vintage Land Rover for a newer more fuel and emissions efficient car, I recycle everything that I possibly can, I switch electrical items off whenever possible and I've lowered the thermostat on the central heating system by a couple of degrees (actually installed a brand new boiler too), I have had the whole house insulated, bought all A rated efficiency white goods - the list goes on.
So as you can see I am far from being an anti-environazi (although I do believe a lot of the so-called climate change evidence is flawed and that the myth is being perpetuated for political and taxation purposes, but that's an entirely different argument), but in actual fact I have spent thousands of pounds on reducing my so called carbon footprint.

So why do I use peat based compost? Cost would be a factor, performance another, availability another, but probably most of all because freedom of choice means that I still can. When more people including the santimonious, self-serving politicians that perpetuate the climate change horror stories start making as much effort as I have to cause less impact on the environment maybe and it is only a maybe I might start using something different.

[sarraceniac]

As I've said earlier, I use peat and like Rixy I have done all the green things. The only difference is I believe that man-made global warming is happening. Not because the politicians tell me so but because, as a trained scientist, I prefer to believe the science as opposed to something that just makes my own life more comfortable. Glad Rixy agrees that the evidence is a horror story.

[smallblueplanet]

...So why do I use peat based compost? Cost would be a factor, performance another, availability another, but probably most of all because freedom of choice means that I still can. When more people including the santimonious, self-serving politicians that perpetuate the climate change horror stories start making as much effort as I have to cause less impact on the environment maybe and it is only a maybe I might start using something different.

What has all that got to do with the destruction of peat bogs? I suppose you don't believe that's happening then?

[solway cropper]

I try to make as much of my own compost as I can but I still use some peat based composts as the alternatives I've tried are nowhere near as good. At the risk of being labeled an environmental vandal I have also gathered my own peat from the mosses near here but I draw a distinction between one man gathering enough for his needs and the commercial exploitation of a resource. Please don't just blame gardeners for the destruction of lowland peat bogs. A lot has gone due to land improvement and changes in agriculture. And don't forget either that the vast majority of the country's peat is not in lowland bogs but up in the hills.

[paula.berriman]

Which store please?

Sorry - Didnt know we we allowed to say. It was B&Q in Darlingtons Morton Park where i got the 3 for £10.

[smallblueplanet]

Ta paula, oh well there's not one near us..

[johninblackpool]

Peat free for me

Hi Emma

I must admit i have only ever used my home made compost since starting GYO last year

John

[Paulottie]

Gone are the days when peat was VERY cheap and used as a soil improver by most gardeners. And yes, while it was cut by hand it was a fine industry but then greed and massive mechanical harvesters with massive demand have raped yet another resource. This fact has been well publicised for 15+ years now

Is it a simplistic as this poll makes out though? Are we balancing the impact of other options here? For instance what is the environmental cost of importing tonnes of coconut fibre?

Would anyone here dare say the reason for using peat is that it is so much better than other seed sowing options?...possibly not, because most of us grow veggies because we want to be connected with the earth and low impact; The honest truth is most gardeners do prefer peat based for sowing but I, like most GYOers have a conscience and have shaved it's use down to a bare minimum. (if at all) It is not so necessary for multipurpose and I tend to use a recycled one....or a loambased with added leafmould that I make.

Really... what is the point of this loaded poll?...to buoy us along with self satisfaction? Get real here! The fact is even if we have made the choice as individuals not to use it and actively seek out alternatives; we probably still buy food or plants or flowers that have been raised/started in peat. Industry use is still massive and I don't see any labelling saying 'peat free' on products apart from potting compost.